My Father's Son - Chapter 24

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"Rise and shine, nerd," Katsuki smirked as he leaned on the door frame, watching Izuku crack his eyes open and groan out a yawn. "It's Saturday."

"Yeah, no work, ergo sleep in."

"Workout day."

"Shit," Izuku groaned, throwing his arm over his eyes. "I forgot."

"Come on, nerd, time to learn a lesson on self-discipline. It's only week two, you can't give up yet."

"I can't have one day off?" he whined. "Between work and Christmas and everything I'm just tired."

Katsuki sighed, eyeing him over briefly, then glanced at his phone to check the time. He contemplated, watching as Izuku slowly slipped back into a light sleep, and finally conceded a nod.

"You have an hour," he conceded. "One hour, then we work out, then we start our end of year cleaning. Make the most of it."

"Thank you Kacchan," Izuku sighed faintly, relaxing when the light switched off overhead. "See you in an hour."

Katsuki closed the door behind him, and with a tired smile he returned to the kitchen, shaking his head.

"Idiot forgot. I gave him one more hour, so take your time getting ready, boys."

"Should we eat breakfast first?"

Katsuki hummed as he contemplated, digging through the fridge.

"How about some fruit and yoghurt?" he suggested. "Then we'll have eggs and rice afterward."

"Okay!"

Katsuki scooped out a couple of bowls of yoghurt, chopping fresh fruit and sprinkling it over the top with some nice berries. The fruit had to have been expensive, it was too colourful and pretty to have been the cheap stuff. He made a mental note to buy some himself next time, to make sure Inko wasn't constantly spending her meagre salary on fruit for everybody.

"So, after our workout today, we're gonna start cleaning," Katsuki began, sitting down at the table and taking a spoonful of yoghurt with blueberries. "Gotta get everything clean and nice before the end of the year. That means you boys have lots of work to do today, need to do piano practice and homework too."

"Toy clean up?" Hiroki asked, muffled a little by a spoon he didn't bother to remove from his mouth. "I have lots I think."

"Yeah? That's cool. Yuuto, you know what he's talking about?"

Yuuto shook his head, eyes darting between the pair.

"Every year when we do our big clean up, Hiroki boxes up any toys he doesn't want anymore and any clothes he doesn't fit anymore, and we donate them to kids who don't have much. I know you didn't bring much with you when you moved in anyway, but maybe you can help Hiroki out, and if you've outgrown any clothes you can add them in too. You don't have to get rid of anything, no one is going to make you, but if you happen to find anything that you don't want, you can stick it in the pile."

"Okay! I'll look!"

"And if it's something important, let us know so we can buy you one that fits. Especially if you only have one, like your suit or shoes."

"I'll try everything on," he nodded, taking another bite. "Um, thank you."

"No need."

Hiroki paused between bites, contemplating.

"Daddy, can I learn the drums next year?"

"Huh? Um, yeah, I don't see why not. I think there's still a set at my parents' place, maybe we can set them up in the garage."

"Instead of piano?"

"Oh," Katsuki paused, frowning slightly. "You don't like piano anymore?"

"Not really," Hiroki admitted. "I know it's good for me but it's not much fun. Papa said maybe another instrument would be okay because that would be good for me too."

"Yeah, I guess that's okay," he agreed. "But drum music is written differently, so you'll have to start learning that. And I'd like it if you practiced piano once in a while too, just to make sure you remember."

"Okay!"

"How about you, Yuuto? You should try out an instrument too."

"Hirokun has been teaching me to read music," he mumbled, looking away awkwardly. "I'm not very good but I'm learning."

"That's awesome, I'm proud of you. Both of you."

"I, um," Yuuto began nervously, his squishy little Downfall orb immediately in his hands to fidget with. "There's one I want to try."

"Oh yeah? What would you like to try?"

"V-Violin?"

Katsuki didn't answer right away, a little stunned by the answer, and Yuuto blushed bright red.

"I know drums is cooler, b-but I s-saw-"

"Violin is super cool," Katsuki cut him off quickly. "I just didn't know you'd seen one before, that's all. Of course you can try violin, we'll find you a class after the holidays. And a drum class for Hiroki."

"On a school day?" Hiroki suggested. "If we go after school then we can have Sunday with you and Papa and Grandma and Grandpa and Nana."

"Yeah, we can take a look. Want me to switch Frog Face to a weekday too?"

"If she can!"

"Means you'll be super busy during the week though."

"That's okay!"

"Music one day, swimming another, cram school three days until school starts, and any other extra-curricular clubs you choose at school. You okay with that?"

"Uh-huh! It's all fun things!"

"What do you think, Yuuto?"

"I can stop later if I'm too tired," Yuuto pointed out. "I can try it!"

"Alright, sounds like a plan. How about we do some music reading until Papa wakes up? We can look at some drum music too."

"Yeah!"

Yuuto and Hiroki took the bowls to the sink to rinse, and Katsuki picked up his laptop, falling onto the couch to find some music. The boys returned to sit either side of him, leaning in to look, and Katsuki managed to find a few websites that showed music for all sorts of different instruments, where they could teach Yuuto the basics, and give Hiroki a translation to drums at the same time. They settled in to listen and read, comparing, and next thing they knew Izuku was stumbling out of his bedroom, rubbing at his eyes roughly.

"Sorry, I'm up," he yawned. "Are we going to the park?"

"Yep, you peed and dressed?"

"Not yet, sorry, one minute."

"All good, we need to change too. Alright boys, go put your running shoes on."

He stood up as they ran off, setting his laptop aside, and smirked as he flicked Izuku in the forehead, getting a pout in return.

"Wear the Downfall shirt again," he instructed, watching the nerd's cheeks flush bright pink as he stepped past. "It looks good on you."

─────

It took three days to finish cleaning the house, starting at the roof and working their way down through the levels. Every floor was scrubbed, every carpet shampooed, and appliance and surface disinfected, until finally the house sparkled.

"Huh," Katsuki mumbled, as he looked over the shining clean rooms. "That normally takes me a week. Thanks Inko, you sped up the process significantly."

"My pleasure! I'm glad I could help!"

"I'm gonna head over to my parents' place and help them out, since I have the time." He shrugged his jacket on at the door, reaching for his car keys. "You guys mind?"

"Not at all," Izuku shook his head. "You want some help?"

"Nah, we're good."

"I wanna help, Daddy," Hiroki pouted, tugging at his sleeve. "Wanna help Grandma and Grandpa!"

"Me too," Yuuto said stubbornly. "I wanna help."

"Wouldn't you rather stay and play games or something?"

"No! Wanna help!"

"I'd like to help too," Inko smiled fondly. "Extra hands make the work go quicker, after all."

"Alright, alright," he sighed, shaking his head fondly. "Pile in, let's go do some work."

Izuku slid in between the carseats in the back, making sure the boys were strapped in securely on either side while Inko and Katsuki climbed into the front. As he drove them over to his childhood home, he couldn't help but notice Inko's face changing, looking around in surprise.

"You know the area?" he asked. "It's where I grew up, right up until U.A. instituted the dorm policy because of me."

"We used to live around here, back before Izuku was born. Had a little apartment with Hisashi but then he went overseas for work and met someone else a year later."

"He at least pay child support?"

"He did, but it wasn't much to live on. We moved somewhere a bit cheaper before Izuku started school, to make life a little easier."

"We could have been neighbours, in another world," Katsuki mused. "Could have had a quirkless little nerd in my kindergarten class."

"You'd have hated me," Izuku laughed. "Too much enthusiasm for you."

"Probably. Might have been fun to pick on, though."

"I know, Kacchan was a childhood bully, you don't need to keep going on about it."

"I'm a hero, nerd. You can't prove shit."

They piled out of the car in the driveway, and Izuku looked up at the house in awe. It somehow looked even fancier than Katsuki's, similar in size but with gorgeous architecture, all big windows and arched rooves.

"Wow," he said softly. "Nice place."

"Yeah, it's alright," Katsuki shrugged, nudging the boys up the path. "You ready to do some cleaning?"

"Yeah!"

He knocked twice then opened the door anyway, kicking off his shoes in the entrance.

"Oi, Old Man, Hag, you have visitors," he called. "We came to help clean."

"Katsuki!" Masaru answered, hurrying into the hallway with an enthusiasm that Katsuki neither heard nor saw from anyone else. "And my boys! It's good to see you!"

He bent down to hug them both, dragging them in tight, and despite a little awkwardness even Yuuto smiled and hugged him back.

"Sorry to show up unannounced," Izuku smiled weakly. "Um, we finished cleaning so Kacchan said he was going to come help you out, we wanted to pitch in."

"It's very kind of you! Thank you so much!"

They followed him inside to where Mitsuki was washing bedsheets, and Inko smiled as she immediately stepped in to help.

"Oh, thank you!" she beamed, stepping over to make more room. "Katsuki, you made it. Go move the furniture in our room, would you? You know your father, he's going to break his back trying."

"A please would be nice."

"I carried you inside me for nine months and fed and clothed you for another fifteen years. The least you can do is move a bed."

"Please?"

"Please, you ungrateful brat."

"Happy to help."

He trudged off to the stairs with his father at his back, and Izuku smiled awkwardly again from the doorway.

"Is there anything I can help with? I'm not as strong as Kacchan, but I'm perfectly healthy!"

"You're such a sweetie," Mitsuki praised. "You don't have to do anything!"

"But I want to help! And so do the boys, right?"

"Yeah!" Hiroki grinned. "I'm good at cleaning, Grandma! I can do the sweeping, and the dusting, and the windows too!"

"You're amazing, Hiro. Well then, the dusting and the windows would be great! You remember where to find the things?"

"Yeah! Yuuto can help me!"

"I'll help them too," Izuku smiled sheepishly. "You know, just in case."

"Thank you hun, you're wonderful."

Hiroki led the way to a cupboard in the kitchen, pointing it out for Izuku to grab their supplies since it was, in an intelligent move on the Bakugous' part, situated too high for him to reach on his own. He gathered dust cloths and cleaning solutions, a spray bottle of glass cleaner for the windows, and then they were off upstairs to get started.

"Papa," Hiroki whispered, grinning as he leaned in close. "Do you wanna see Daddy's old room?"

"It's still here?"

"Yeah! There's already another room for guests, so they left Daddy's room for him! I sleep in it when I stay over!"

"Show me," he grinned. "I want to see."

Giggling, Hiroki padded across to a closed door, twisting the handle and showing them into a wide, airy room, with faded All Might posters still pinned to the walls. There had been a few additions since Katsuki's childhood, presumably during his high school years – trophies and medals from school being the most obvious. They shone like they'd been polished every day since they were put there, and Izuku smiled at the thought of Masaru or Mitsuki stepping in every once in a while to keep them clean.

"This one is mine," Hiroki explained, picking up a photo frame from the top of the bookshelf. "But the other one is Daddy's!"

The frame in Hiroki's hands showed him and his father, years younger, a tiny bundle with a mop of curls held in the strong arms of his pro-hero father. Despite being a tiny baby, Hiroki still looked up at his father in awe, his tiny green eyes shining as he reached up toward Katsuki's face.

"He's so in love," Izuku said fondly. "You must have only been a few weeks old."

"Daddy says he fell in love the moment he saw me," Hiroki grinned. "He said it was a family thing, where Daddies always love the babies that come from them, but since I didn't come from him he just loved me for me!"

"Yeah, he did," Izuku smiled, leaning over to kiss his head lightly. "And so do I. We both love both our boys, and that will never change."

Hiroki wiped the frame and the glass carefully with a damp cloth, cleaning off the surface of the bookshelf before he set it back down and picked up the second.

"This one is Daddy's," he said again. "From U.A. with his friends!"

He cleaned it off carefully then handed it to Izuku to look while he wiped the other half of the bookshelf. It was a group shot, Katsuki's entire graduating class from the look of it, among them the familiar faces of his friends from Izuku's signed posters.

"That's all your figures!" Yuuto said excitedly, pointing at the faces in the photo. "The ones from our bedroom!"

"Yeah!" Hiroki grinned. "I wanted to collect all my Aunts and Uncles first!"

"Have you met all of them?"

"Uh-huh! But I was small for some, I don't remember it much. They had a ten year party and he took me too, everybody was surprised he had a son!"

"Really? He never told them?"

"He didn't, but also because he likes boys."

With the surface clean, Izuku set the photo down carefully, smiling when Hiroki looked up at him.

"This is the reading nest," he continued, diving into a familiar pile of pillows and blankets in the corner. "I like to snuggle here when I visit, sometimes Daddy snuggles with me before he goes."

"It looks very comfy."

"Come snuggle!"

With a laugh, Izuku nodded, dragging Yuuto along to cuddle in with Hiroki. They buried themselves in the nest, curled up together, and Hiroki giggled again as he nuzzled Izuku's neck.

"I'm so happy I met Papa and Yuuchan."

"I'm so happy I met Hiroki," Izuku grinned. "Yuuto, you glad too?"

"Yeah! Dad and Hirokun make me happy!"

"But now we should really do some cleaning. How about we pick up all these pillows and blankets for washing, and I'll go get the vacuum to clean underneath, while you guys dust and do the windows. Sound like a plan?"

"Yeah!"

"Alright, you start on the pillows and blankets, I'm gonna grab the vacuum cleaner."

The boys set to work, and Izuku smiled at their backs as he left, stopping by Mitsuki and Masaru's room to check on the others. He found them arguing as always, Katsuki aggressively telling his father to back off while Masaru insisted he could help.

"Why don't we trade?" Izuku offered. "I was going to get the vacuum cleaner, but I can help move furniture instead?"

"I promise, I'm absolutely fine!"

"I know you are, but once Kacchan gets an idea in his head he won't let it go, you know that as well as I do. So you go help the boys in Kacchan's room with all the lightweight furniture, and I'll help with the heavy stuff in here."

"Okay," Masaru smiled fondly. "I guess that makes sense. Thank you."

As soon as he left, Izuku took over at the end of the bed, helping pull it away from the wall. Everything behind it looked fairly clean, but they gave it a good scrub all the same, feeding Katsuki's obsessive nature with chemicals and cleaning cloths. It was a healthy way to take out some of his aggression, Izuku supposed – maybe he needed to hand the man a scrubbing brush on occasion and let him duke it out with the bathroom facilities.

"Were you always such a helpful son?" Izuku asked with a teasing smile. "I'm betting not."

"I was an asshole," Katsuki answered blatantly, not bothering to soften his own blow. "From the time I got my quirk until the day I graduated, and occasionally, still."

"You're not. Maybe you were before I met you, but not now."

"I try," Katsuki grumbled. "Sometimes I don't try hard enough."

"It's sweet that you still worry about it. Just goes to show that you've grown, if you regret it."

"I didn't say I regret it," Katsuki smirked, shoving him lightly as he walked past to grab a clean cloth. "It got me to where I am, didn't it?"

"I give up."

"Good choice."

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